A new multicenter study in the New England Journal of Medicine was recently trumpeted by the media as proof Glucosamine doesn’t work. I recall a few years back I was interviewing Dr Theodosakis who wrote the book The Arthritis Cure on my radio show. Many traditional doctors decried him as a fraud. Fast forward 15 years and everyone in my practice has at least heard of or tried Glucosamine although most can’t pronounce it. Back then the media loved to tout it as an alternative cure that traditional doctors were ignoring. Now that most conservative doctors are recommending it , why is the media now on the opposing team. Well first as I was taught years ago, I examined the raw data. I read the New England study on my own looking at pure numbers. The conclusion was that of the three groups: Placebo, Glucosamine/Chondroitin, and Celebrex the positive response rates were: 50%, 57%, and 60% respectively. One could ask then is Celebrex weak or does Glucosamine approach Celebrex in it’s strength. The authors conclude, that the results show that Glucosamine does work positively, yet further studies are needed. How did the media get it wrong. Well as always they are looking for an oppositional conflicting spin to conventional wisdom. The total group got the results I share above,  a subgroup did  respond  well hence they launched their stories with , ha you are wasting your money. Funny they didn’t say that years ago. As always one study does not a conclusion make. From my perspective the millions of satisfied user are proof enough to me over the last 10 years.